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The end is nigh for Metcard

Clay Lucas

Metcard ticket machines will be ripped out of CBD railway stations from next month. Photo: Craig Sillitoe

WEEKLY and monthly Metcard tickets will no longer be sold from railway stations from March, as the Baillieu government attempts to push more public transport users on to the myki ticket system.

Hundreds of decade-old Metcard ticket machines will also be ripped out of CBD railway stations and taken off the Williamstown line from next month; other railway lines will follow.

With only 30 per cent of public transport travellers now using a myki card, the government wants to push more off Metcard before the anticipated switch-off at the end of this year.

While the government will make it more difficult to buy Metcards - to encourage Victorians in the wind-down period to use up an estimated 11 million unused trips - it is simultaneously beefing up myki.

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All myki vending machines on railway stations will soon sell ''uncharged'' cards, for $6 each, with no travel credit on them.

All 7-Eleven stores and 90 newsagents and milk bars will also sell myki cards soon, along with offering existing top-up services. And another 400 stores offering myki top-ups soon will also sell cards.

But in an embarrassment for the government, seven months after Premier Ted Baillieu announced that the contract with the company behind Metcard would be extended, no new contract has been signed.

In 2007, when it became clear myki would run years late, the government signed a $216 million contract with Metcard's owner, OneLink, to run the system until March 1 this year.

In just six weeks, the government's contract with OneLink expires. With no extension contract yet signed, OneLink - which declined to comment yesterday - is now in a strong bargaining position.

And, after years in opposition spent criticising the $1.35 billion smartcard system, Transport Minister Terry Mulder is bringing back Labor's much-maligned ''myki mates'' - though under a different name.

Around $4 million will be spent between now and July on the revived customer service officer program, on top of $5 million already spent in 2010.

In 2009, Mr Mulder criticised then minister Lynne Kosky for needing this ''army of paid explainers'' for myki.

While weekly and monthly Metcard tickets will disappear on March 26 from railway stations and vending machines, the popular 10-trip ticket will remain available, as will two-hour Metcards. Yearly Metcard tickets have already been replaced by myki.

Labor's transport spokeswoman, Fiona Richardson, said the removal of Metcard equipment and some tickets would do nothing to solve two outstanding myki issues: the failure to provide a single-use ticket for occasional public transport users and tourists, and removing myki top-ups from trams.

149 comments

So where can you buy a monthly Metcard from now? Or does this mean that there will no longer be monthly or weekly Metcards? This whole myki thing has been a mess since its onset. Two governments are responsible for a system that makes it harder for consumers to see what they've spent and what they're getting for it. And speaking of what we're getting for it, I can't see any improvements in my local bus, tram and train service -- can you?

Commenter

Pensioner

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

January 20, 2012, 8:37AM

I'm a daily commuter using metro trains and buses. I have to say that, after the bumping initial year, the Myki system now works much better than it was rolled out; not perfect but useful. It has been months sense last time I cannot find a validation machine for Myki. The smart card even saves me some money by providing cheaper weekend travels($3.3 a day in 1+2 zone) and the 33-day-myki-pass-strategy.

Commenter

DBPZ

Location

Laverton

Date and time

January 20, 2012, 10:05AM

@DBPZ: I can currently use my weekly metcard on the weekend.... This means using MYKI will cost me more.

Commenter

Al

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

January 20, 2012, 10:34AM

You won't be able to buy weekly or monthly Metcards. Makes sense really if they're going to Myki, they're obviously for regular commuters and Myki is designed for that. It'd be stupid to continue with both Myki and weekly/monthly Metcards. The real joke is that by the end of this year, they're phasing out ALL metcards - incl daily and 2 hour tickets. Ridiculous. People who catch public transport once a year, or people visiting Melbourne for a day or two, will have to buy a myki and charge it. Makes no sense at all, except of course as an unearned revenue raiser. Occasional users should have access to a daily ticket that can be purchased quickly at the station. They won't under this incompetent system. Hello even more fare evasion (and who could blame them).

Commenter

John

Date and time

January 20, 2012, 10:37AM

@Al, no it doesn't. You can buy a myki pass which is like a monthly but you choose exactly the number of days you want (minimum 28). It is $4.02 a day for zone 1 and works out the same as a monthly for a 30 day month. I get a bit better value by buying a 33 day pass and start on a Monday (so I finish on a Friday). If I want to travel on that weekend at the end of the 33 days I will just charge use my card to get the weekend rate. Then I start a new 33 day pass the next Monday. A bit of a hassle but if you don't want to get a yearly card, this is the best value and better than monthly or weekly metcards.

Commenter

Rob

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

January 20, 2012, 11:05AM

and you can buy a 7 day pass for the same price as an old weekly

Commenter

Rob

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

January 20, 2012, 11:47AM

And speaking of something else we are not getting - 5 x day, 5 x weekend and 10 x 2 hours are gone.... At least Mykis no longer charge you a full adult fare on weekends (they did at first!), but they do still charge you a full fare for daily and two hour travel. Meaning you save about $10 for every 5x/10x Metcard you use - assuming that there is a bus/train/tram there for you to use it on!

Commenter

andilee

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

January 20, 2012, 12:29PM

i'm going to make this very simple... myki cards don't work properly. go to any foreign country with a smart card system and the readers recognise the card in a second even if it's inside a wallet. the myki cards need to be physically held against the reader for multiple seconds for them to have a chance of being read. way to turn peak hour into a nightmare, Bailleu.

Commenter

brewhaus

Location

southbank

Date and time

January 20, 2012, 8:37AM

LIES! I leave my Myki in my wallet when I touch on and touch off and it only takes a second to recognise it.

Commenter

Drew

Date and time

January 20, 2012, 9:46AM

@Drew. I'm really happy that _your_ card is working for you. I've went back to Metcard because it's simply more reliable. My myki reads some days but not others. In a wallet or out doesn't matter.